Iceland is a perfectly safe country

It's been a bit strange following all the media frenzy around the Eyjafjallajökull glacier eruption during the last few weeks. Surely the people living closest to the glacier have been hit rather hard by ash falling on their farmland. Together we will hopefully overcome the damage that has been done. 

Otherwise the country is totally undisturbed by the eruption (problems with flights to and from the country, true). We go on with our lives as if nothing had happened, as a matter of fact there are much bigger concerns to deal with: the results of the abominable outcome of the capitalist experiment which has ruined our economy, during the last two decades.

I live about 80 km from the eruption and the only concern I have is, whether I can see the eruption.

I took this photo while the eruption was still quite powerful.

This one I took a week ago with the cathedral of Skálholt in the foreground.

What is hurting the country, as a result of this eruption, is mainly hysteria, stirred up by the media. We are allright and whoever comes here is welcome to enjoy the wonders of our country.

More on Zim (still here!)

Apologies to faithful readers of this blog for the prolonged silence!

Life seems to finally be picking up in my part of the world. Since that much vaunted, better-than-sliced-bread Government of National Unity finally came into being, geese have been laying golden eggs, someone put Humpty Dumpty together again, the secret to world peace has been found, and pigs are flying regularly. Julius Malema has come and gone, leaving some new jokes (about him, that is) in his wake. Zimbabweans have, unsurprisingly, fast-adjusted to having real money around, and have rapidly been increasing prices, just so we don’t forget the old days. Many people have been working for no or half pay, because industry is still operating far below capacity (in most cases, 40%, although Colcom reports that it is now at 100% capacity). People have forgotten how to complain, even when the Mayor of Bulawayo buys an official car that’s better suited to a movie star than the mayor of a city that has a pothole for every half-metre of road. Maybe we are just grateful for the semblance of normality.

Power shortages are so common that most people just resign themselves to using whatever else there is for fuel, i.e. wood, gel (that’s hard to explain if you don’t know what it is), paraffin; and to going to bed at whatever time ZESA (the power company) determines. I was in Harare a few weeks ago, living the tough life (no, really), and I discovered that there are loads of people who can’t afford the $1 it costs to buy one litre of paraffin in many townships. Eggs are R2 each, and bread is still about $1. Many Bulawayans have decided South African (GM or genetically modified, they say) chicken sucks, even though it costs about R30 for 2 kg, and now prefer to buy local chicken, which costs between $5 and $7. We’re still consuming a lot of South African products, although Zim stuff is gradually reappearing on the shelves. For those of you less fluent in exchange rates, the USD : Rand rate in Bulawayo is 1:7.5, and 1:10 in Harare (-which, incidentally, infuriates Bulawayans).

In truth, life is so much better that every time we talk about “the way things were”, it’s like a dream. In spite of the problems I mention above, what everyone goes on about is, at least we have food now. I think we were under a lot of pressure, but no one really realized just how much until it lifted… There is an overwhelming sense of relief, still, and it comes with euphoria… Which I experienced second-hand when there was a Tuku (Oliver Mtukudzi) show near where I live. Since I couldn’t sleep, I lay awake wondering when the last time was when I heard Bulawayans having so much fun (I assume) into the early hours of the morning. I noticed it at Easter, too, when the road to Harare (again, near where I live) was lined with hundreds of would-be travellers, many of whom had been unable to see relatives in other parts for years. And I notice it when I read the paper, and see signs of cautious optimism, with people able to put in classified ads for things like birthdays and so on, and with the business section of the paper full of stories of growth (-wait a minute, the paper actually HAS a business section again!). I see people walking into a shop to buy a cellphone, and handing over $2 or $5 to get a sim card. I hear people making plans to buy cars, and I see people shopping for clothes, and living semi-normal lives.

I guess that’s what we call hope.

Björgunaraðgerð

Hvernig gæti ég hafa ímyndað mér að það ætti fyrir mér að liggja, að bjarga tveim Norðmönnum í vanda, á þessum sólríka laugardegi? Það varð hinsvegar raunin, þó svo endanleg ninðurstað þessarar aðgerðar liggi ekki endanlega fyrir enn.

Það kom símtal frá Kvisthyltingnum danska, sem nú er staddur á ráðstefnu í þeirri merku borg Nottingham, þar sem Hrói höttur gerði garðinn frægan. Í dag hyllir undir ráðstefnulok og ugað er að heimferð. Þar kemur babb í bátinn, eins og flestum hlýtur að vera ljóst.

Þetta símtal fól í sér að fela mér að leita uppi mögulegar leiðir frá Englandi yfir á meginland Evrópu. Þar var nefnd til sögu hafnarborgin Harwich á austurströndinni. Þaðan eru ferjusiglingar til ýmissa borga. Ég hóf leit að fari og komst brátt að því að þar er fátt um fína drætti. Næsta ferja sem ekki er fullbókuð fer til Esbjerg á föstudaginn kemur, 26. apríl. Ég leitaði því eftir fari til einhvers staðar sem kallast Hook of Holland, en þangað er rúmlega 6 tíma sigling. Fyrsta ferð þangað þar sem enn var laust, reyndist vera að morgni þriðjudags næstkomandi.

Þetta tjáði ég Kvisthyltingnum símleiðis. Hann ákvað að taka þetta far þar sem ekkart annað var í kortunum. Að því sögðu fór hann þess á leit við mig að ég bókaði einnig tvo samráðstefnugesti hans í umrædda ferð. Þetta voru þeir Vegard Ölstörn og Bo Haugen, örugglega miklir öndvegismenn, norskir.

Ég komst í gegnum bókunarferlið og núr eru þeir félagarnir þrír bókaðir í ferju frá Harwich til Hook of Holland, n.k. þrijudag kl. 9:00 að morgni. Hvernig þier ætla sér síðan að komast til Norðurlandanna þaðan er eitthvað sem ekki liggur enn ljóst fyrir, en samkvæmt áreiðanlegum upplýsingum frá Fyrrelunden eru og verða allar almenningssamgöngur í Evrópu fullbókaðar eins lengi og séð verður.

Nú bíð ég spenntur eftir fregnum af því, hvort bókun mín reynist verða sú björgun sem endanlega leiðir til þess að tveir norðmenn og einn Kvisthyltingur komast til síns heima áður en langt um líður.